I provide commentary on political economy, police and prosecutorial abuse, and whatever else might come to mind.
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 (ESV)

Monday, March 26, 2012

It's the accountability, stupid!

It's like the proverbial broken record, and we see it time and time again. Convicted felons being freed because of wrongful convictions brought about by their prosecutors hiding evidence, lying to jurors, suborning perjury, and worse.

This piece on a recent "60 Minutes" should be enough to make anyone's blood boil, as it is abundantly clear that Texas prosecutors knowingly railroaded an innocent man because they wanted to be what the evil Henry Wade described as a "great prosecutor." Wade supposedly declared: "Any prosecutor can convict a guilty man. It takes a great prosecutor to convict and innocent man," and Wade certainly fell into that category.

In the case of Michael Morton, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife while the real killer was free to kill again, the villain in this case is Ken Anderson, now a judge. As seems to be the case in Texas, the worst human being was honored by his prosecutorial peers as "Prosecutor of the Year," which really is a sick joke, except that Chris Arnt also was once given a similar award in Georgia and cited for his high "ethical" standards. Chris Arnt! The man who knowingly suborned perjury and lied to jurors in the Tonya Craft trial.

In other words, if prosecutors choose to honor someone, you can bet that whomever is honored is probably one of the worst human beings on the planet and has committed more felonies than all of the people together he or she has prosecuted. In the "60 Minutes" broadcast, Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, which battled Texas prosecutors for years just to look at the Morton case file and to have a bloody bandana DNA tested, was careful to say that he did not believe there was an "epidemic" of prosecutorial misconduct.

I would beg to differ. As I see it, there are very few truly honest prosecutors in this country, and the reason is simple: no accountability means that dishonest people will self-select into this line of work. It is that simple. When people are not held responsible for wrongdoing, over time they will engage in wrongdoing.

Very few individuals are able to walk a straight-and-narrow when they don't have to do so. Look at Ken Anderson. After framing Morton, he received the Texas "Prosecutor of the Year" award, and later was elected a judge. His claim that "the system" failed Morton is a real howler, given that Anderson was the system.

No, Anderson decided that Morton was guilty, and he made sure that Morton's attorneys did not see the material he had in his possession that would have raised serious doubts about his guilt. Furthermore, by framing Morton, Anderson ensured that the real killer would go free, and the man committed another murder. So, if there were any justice, Anderson also would have to face justice for being an accomplice to homicide.

Lest anyone think I exaggerate, understand that Anderson was given strong evidence that Morton was not the killer and that a murderous madman was on the loose. Instead of connecting the dots, Anderson decided to try to be a "great prosecutor," and an ignorant Texas jury (Do I repeat myself?) did what most juries do: believe prosecutors no matter how ridiculous their story might be.

As far as I am concerned, Ken Anderson should be thrown into prison and forced to serve 25 years, just as Morton did. Anything less would not be a punishment at all. At the very least, Anderson should be removed as a judge and be stripped of his law license and be forced to serve the people he has so wronged.

The reason people like Ken Anderson engage in criminal behavior is because no matter how outrageous the conduct, prosecutorial immunity protects the worst people among us. When the Founding Fathers set up the United States, it was supposed to have checks and balances, but that was ultimately destroyed, with omnipotent government replacing it.

There is no turning back the clock. A country in which a large number of people can engage in the worst kind of lawbreaking and be immune from legal consequences is a country destined for tyranny. We already have a police state, and I believe things only will get worse. I only hope that decent people can stand up to this onslaught brought on by the Ken Andersons of the world.

7 comments:

The problem with following the Morton travesty is that there are so many threads of persecutorial misconduct in it.

Morton’s trial itself was a farce due to withheld exculpatory evidence plus the fact that the sheriff, who had done little or none of the investigation himself, was called as the lead investigator. This was a move by the persecution to keep out of evidence the case notes of the actual lead investigator. Those notes recorded the 3 year old son’s statement that a “monster” had hurt mommy and daddy wasn’t there. That information was withheld from the defense and did not appear in the case file until much later. Add to that, the fact that the sheriff and persecutor Anderson regularly ate breakfast together and discussed cases. (Reminds me of Brian Outhouse and others of his ilk who do business in the LCMJ.) This is just one example of the threads that run through this case, a case where the sheriff decided Morton was guilty and made the evidence, with the help of persecutor Anderson, fit his conclusion.

The best most understandable summary of what went on that I have found is in this 3 part newspaper series on the trial and its aftermath.http://wilcosun.com/pages/morton-series.php

Another thread in this maze is current county persecutor John Bradley. He fought against DNA testing for 5 years, an extra 5 years of incarceration for Michael Morton. His reasons for doing so are suspect, IMO, but he seems to have gotten religion as his latest election looms. For a summary of his involvement and subsequent altar call, see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/us/williamson-prosecutor-john-bradley-has-a-change-of-heart.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all%22%20%5Co%20%22Times%20article

I doubt his change of heart. I doubt that he has a heart period. I hope with all of my heart that he and Outhouse are turned out of office by voters who are tired of the persecutorial injustices committed every day in both of these districts. As long as there is no accountability, there is no fear on the part of the wrongdoers. THANKS to Dr. Anderson for turning over the rocks and letting us see them scurry around trying to avoid the sunshine.

If I were in charge of the world, both Anderson and Bradley would be placed into bond service to Michael Morton with the assigned task of weekly cleaning the toilets in Morton's house by licking them with their tongues.

If I were in charge of the world, both Anderson and Bradley would be placed into bond service to Michael Morton with the assigned task of weekly cleaning the toilets in Morton's house by licking them with their tongues.

Yep,exactly. Or, better yet, send both of them straight to "gen pop" in the same prison(s) in which Morton did time and have them do the same hard time he did, for an equivalent sentence length. Being a former judge and former DA will ensure that their time would be "interesting," to put it kindly.

Way to go Mr.Anderson, What a great blogg as alway's. Maybe one day these people will wake up. And say this is wrong. We need to change, And as for as this Anderson and Bradley, yes they need to serve the same amount of time. and yes Jerri they need to lick toilets also.

Thank you Mr.Anderson for another great article. Rusty Hardin is appointed as special prosecutor for this case. Hopefully Mr.Hardin can finally get justice for Michael Morton. On another note, the Texas justice system is a joke, look at the current Harris County district attorney's office! The DA, Pat Lykos, is being investigated by the Texas Rangers and FBI. The worst part of this is that Texas residences don't seem to care.

About Me

I teach economics at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. We are located on the Allegheny Plateau, and we have cool summers and tough winters.
I am the single father of five children, four of them adopted from overseas and I have two grandchildren. My family and I are members of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA).